For father of fallen Raynham soldier, Memorial Day is among the hardest of holidays

Sunday

May 30, 2010 at 12:01 AMMay 30, 2010 at 11:23 PM

The father of Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. First Class Jared Monti, killed in action in Afghanistan four years ago, told selectmen that Memorial Day weekend is an especially difficult time for the families of soldiers killed in action. Raynham resident Paul Monti, attending a meeting of selectmen this week where the annual town report was dedicated to his son and another fallen hero – former Raynham resident Marine Corps member Brian Oliveira, killed in action in Iraq in 2004 – said this is “a difficult week for Gold Star families.”

Sharon Holliday

The father of Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. First Class Jared Monti, killed in action in Afghanistan four years ago, told selectmen that Memorial Day weekend is an especially difficult time for the families of soldiers killed in action.

Raynham resident Paul Monti, attending a meeting of selectmen this week where the annual town report was dedicated to his son and another fallen hero – former Raynham resident Marine Corps member Brian Oliveira, killed in action in Iraq in 2004 – said this is “a difficult week for Gold Star families.”

“But I would like to thank the Board of Selectmen for all they’ve done in our time of sorrow,” Monti said about a street sign honoring his son at the town’s four corners. Raynham also plans a memorial service to honor Monti at the town’s middle school on July 18.

The town is also in the middle of fundraising efforts to construct a permanent memorial to fallen veterans at Borden Colony Gazebo Park on King Philip Street.

Monti was honored by President Barack Obama during a ceremony at the White House on Sept. 17. He was the first soldier from Massachusetts, and the sixth in the nation, to receive the Medal of Honor since military action began in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Also attending the meeting on Tuesday was Oliveira’s family – father, David Horseman; brother, Derek Horseman; and sister, Carolyn Horseman.

Oliveira, who graduated with the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School Class of 2000, and who had attended LaLiberte Junior High School in Raynham, left behind a wife and 6-week-old son at the time of his death.

Selectman Donald McKinnon, a veteran of the Korean War, said that when he reads the list of names of fallen soldiers, the first thing he looks at is their age.

“Some are 19 years old,” McKinnon said, “and these are people whose futures we will never know. We can only guess what they would have been.”